Vietnamese children believed to be suffering the effects of Agent Orange make paper flowers at Vietnam Friendship Village in Hanoi.

U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein disagreed that the allegedly toxic defoliant and similar U.S. herbicides should be considered poisons banned under international rules of war, even though they may have had comparable effects on people and land.

The Brooklyn judge also found that the plaintiffs could not prove that Agent Orange had caused their illnesses, largely because of a paucity of research.

The lawsuit was the first attempt by Vietnamese plaintiffs to seek compensation for the effects of Agent Orange, which is laden with dioxin and has been linked to cancer, diabetes and birth defects among Vietnamese soldiers, civilians and American veterans.

U.S. aircraft sprayed more than 80 million liters of the chemical between 1962 and 1971 in attempts to destroy crops and remove foliage used as cover by communist forces.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 19, 2005
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